High Risk by G.K. Parks (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

The clerk scoffed. “I ordered it on the internet.”

Blowing out a breath, I wondered if I could arrest him for obstruction, but I couldn’t prove he remembered anything. And it wasn’t a crime to be unhelpful. “Okay, let’s go over this one more time. A man came in here at five o’clock this morning to purchase what?”

“Whiskey.”

“What did he look like?”

The clerk glared at me. “Like a guy, probably in his forties. He paid with a credit card.”

“Why didn’t you ask for ID when he used his card?”

“Because he swiped it through the reader. I didn’t even touch it.” He held up his palms. “Not my business. Not my property.”

“So he touched the card reader?”

“Yep.”

All right, now I was getting somewhere. CSU might have luck pulling his prints. I stared down at the faded buttons and hanging pen.

“Don’t waste your time. I wiped it down at end of shift, along with the counter. I’m sure Shelly did the same thing when her shift ended.”

“What time was that?”

“Four.”

“Your shift ended at four a.m.?”

“No, Shelly went home at four this afternoon. My shift ended at seven a.m. I’m part owner, so I work the overnight and stock. Aside from a couple of regulars, no one usually stops by in the middle of the night. But business picks up at shift change, and we stay busy until almost eight.” He looked down at my badge. “A lot of first responders drop by after working graveyard. They probably need a little something to help them sleep.”

“Was anyone else in the store at 5:17 this morning?”

He sighed. “I dunno. It’s work. I do my job, ring up customers, card the ones I have to, and that’s that.”

I stared at the register. “Don’t you have to enter a birthdate in order for the transaction to complete?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, great. So what was this guy’s birthdate?”

“You gonna buy him a card?”

I hated unhelpful civilians. “Yep, so I need to know his birthday. And before you say you don’t remember, I’m sure it must get recorded somewhere.”

He stared at the counter. “Unless you have a warrant or something, I’m done cooperating. You have no reason to harass me, and I have work to do.”

“You just enter the same date for everyone, don’t you?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. I took a step back, suddenly developing a terrible headache. “Look, the guy who bought a bottle of Jack from you this morning killed someone for no reason. He broke into a place, emptied the register, and killed a guy. I don’t want that to happen again. You don’t want to be his next victim, do you?”

“Nice try, but I don’t know anything. I don’t remember him, and you can’t prove that I do. I mind my business. I don’t get involved. I don’t look for trouble. Don’t bring trouble to me.”

Once I got back to the car, I called Fennel to update him on the situation. While we spoke, I watched the clerk mount the camera back on the wall. So much for high-tech security measures. No wonder Moonlight Security had branched out.

“Dammit,” Fennel cursed. “The strip club was also a bust. The girls remembered Michael Tolliver. He left with his friends. The bouncer even saw him get into the car with his buddies once it pulled up. He didn’t kill Jonathan Gardner.”

“At least that’s one name off our list.”

“We have a list?” Fennel asked.

“No, but we could make one and then cross Michael Tolliver’s name off of it.” I looked around. 24/7 Spirits was twenty blocks away from Star Cleaners. It was too far to walk, so how did the killer get here? “Why did he use Gardner’s credit card?” I mused out loud.

“He probably did it right after he killed him. He must have figured it was safe since we hadn’t found the body yet. Or maybe he wanted to screw with our TOD by making us think Gardner made the purchase.”

“Perhaps. But for him to choose this liquor store, he must have known there were no security cameras. He’s been here before. You have the address, right?”

Papers ruffled in the background. “Yep.”

“Okay, see if there are any traffic cams nearby and pull the footage. And contact dispatch and find out what officers walk this beat. They’ll know which shops in the area have security cameras, and they’ll know who to talk to for intel.”

“All right, I’ll get the ball rolling. Are you heading back to the precinct?”

I didn’t want to go back to the station since I knew Lt. Winston didn’t like it when we worked beyond end of shift without permission and was liable to tell us to go home. The killer had a plan. Breaking into Star Cleaners and killing Gardner was part of it, so was stopping by 24/7 Spirits to buy a bottle of Jack, and I wouldn’t be able to figure out what that plan was from inside my apartment.

“Liv?” Fennel asked.

“Yeah,” I turned the key in the ignition, “I’m on my way.”

Eleven

“The cops came here.” Carter ran both hands through his hair, his entire body trembling. “They know. They know what you did.”

The third man peered down the hall, but Michael Tolliver’s bedroom door remained closed. “Lower your fucking voice. You don’t want to wake up your roommate, or I’ll have to permanently silence him. You get that, right?”

Carter gulped and rubbed his mouth. He had to get out of here.

“You need to stop smoking that shit, man. It’s making you paranoid.” Diego sat at the kitchen table, sipping whiskey from a juice glass. “At least the rest of the bachelor party finally cleared out. The last thing we need is more people in our business.” When he signed on to this, Diego knew people might